Effeuiller la Marguerites
by Yakolev
Summary: "If you pick a petal with an odd permutation, you'll always pull the choice that you initially want. But there's a trick around that. There always is. Just because you get a bad petal doesn't mean he doesn't like you…" Reshiram/Zekrom, Rayquaza/Latias
1. Chapter 1

_He likes me._

With a sigh and a shake of her slender head, the snow-hued dragon gently tore a pink petal off a flower she held between her sharpened ivory claws. It floated down lazily to the gilded floor of the Hall of Origin as she contemplated the rest of its kind still attached to the stem.

Reshiram had always been an early, punctual individual. Call her for a meeting at nine o'clock and she'd come half an hour prior. Tell her to get a job done and she'd have it finished in a third the time expected.

However, the world didn't exactly revolve around her. Reshiram would always have plenty of time to burn sitting here or there, waiting for others to arrive at a more normal, tolerable hour. She didn't mind this at all; anyways, the time was best used for thinking and philosophizing rather than sitting around or, Arceus forbid, _sleeping_. There were still a good fifteen minutes left, the first half of her time being interrupted by a quaint "Hello" and a weary "I don't get her" from Arceus.

Though, the more she thought about it, what was on her mind that morning couldn't be defended as meaningful in any possible manner. _H-he doesn't like me,_ she thought as she detached another petal, complexion growing a feather more flustered in the process.

The oaken doors of the Hall then opened wide as an agitated dragon barreled through them. Reshiram's face fell as the snake-like Rayquaza sharply asked for Arceus. "They're going at it again," he explained hurriedly, "near Sootopolis again, the idiots!"

A quick point aft sent the sky king along with a half-roar, half-groan of anger and exasperation. Reshiram gave a quick sigh of relief; she didn't know whether Rayquaza would have spent his time lingering and lecturing her on the uselessness of flowers or attending to more serious business. He wasn't exactly one for prettiness or anything pertaining to Latias, for that matter (interesting dissonance, she thought with a brief smile).

As she began to tug at the third petal, the fire dragon noticed the doors open again. This time, a green but much stouter being walked in with a bit less clamor than the previous individual. "Hey, Reshiram," Skymin said.

The dragon puzzled over how such a small Pokemon could possibly open doors many times her height until she noticed another presence that could actually meet her eye level. Palkia held the door wide open, allowing the slowly growing amount of councilmembers to stream into the Hall. It was a kindly, selfless act, which Reshiram thought was completely uncharacteristic of him until….

"Ladies first."

The quadruped counterpart in question turned her head back and glared at him. "Oh, please," Dialga said with a scoff before marching off.

"Looks like Palkia still hasn't made much of an impression on her," Skymin commented, looking down out of embarrassment of having witnessed such a scene. "He's gonna have a hard time if he keeps up that attitude."

The dragon besides her nodded, subconsciously looking at the flower petals in her claws. _Maybe I have an attitude problem too? _she mused. _Maybe that's why he hasn't liked me…._

She then felt some slight movement on one of her wings. "Hey," her short friend asked, perched on her shoulder. "Are you playing… wait, are you really playing love me not?"

Reshiram noticed the awkward expression on Skymin's face and the way she brought a paw to her mouth, and felt blood rush to her cheeks. "Yes, I am," she said a little defensively. "Why do you ask?"

"What do you mean, 'why do you ask'?" Skymin exclaimed with a slight squeal, bobbing her furry head up and down. "So you like someone! I always thought so! Who is-"

"No!" Reshiram snorted in distaste at her reaction. She nervously looked around to see if anyone was eavesdropping on them before whispering feverishly, "I'm trying to figure out if _someone else_ likes me! The concepts are completely different."

The green-and-white Pokemon snickered at her. "Oh, uh huh, right. That's such a load of crap. You can't delude someone's who's been through this before, you know."

"Been through this before?" she asked, curiosity aroused. Of course, that was a stupid reaction considering that Shaymin was the epitome of girly gossip, surpassed by only the incredibly childish Mew, but still….

"Yeah. Hey, hold me up for a minute. I might fall." The dog reached up behind an ear and pulled out a Gracidea Flower. A brilliant light accompanied her form change, causing Reshiram to shield her eyes slightly with a claw.

The hedgehog now waved the flower up at the dragon's face. "Alright, now see," she said, "See how many petals this flower has."

The dragon regarded her oddly for a minute. "Seven. There's seven petals."

"Exactly."

Reshiram looked at her with confusion.

"See, if you have an odd number of petals, you'll always get the result you want. I don't know how it works, but just trust me. I learned a long time ago from experience, even though sometimes that doesn't always translate into real life..." she said awkwardly. Reshiram nodded, face turning soft and sympathetic… or was that empathetic? After all, they were in the same boat.

The hedgehog nestled the flower behind her ear and jumped down. "So, hopefully you won't end up not not not not not liking whoever you do,"

"Wait… what?" the snowy dragon asked, trying to diffuse the nest of not's in the sentence. She rubbed her shoulder, deadened from Skymin sitting on it from all that time.

"Well, isn't that what you're doing with the flower petals? Cancelling your previous thought? But, well, of course," she said with a healthy wink, "Sometimes some thoughts just can't be canceled, no matter how hard you try. I mean, who would have thought that the early-bird, efficient Reshiram would actually deal with something so girly, romantic, and unintellectual like _love me not_? Surely she's so unconfident about something to turn to some outside stimulus for reassurance."

"It's unintelligent, not unintellectual," Reshiram said weakly, deliberately skirting the topic of _why_ exactly she was doing what she was. The effort didn't necessarily stop her face from heating substantially because of Skymin's accusations, though.

Skymin shrugged. "Same difference. And why so red, Reshiram? Did I hit a soft spot?"

Her friend tried to prepare a flustered retort, but the canine was already gone from her presence. She frowned at the flower in her claws afterwards. _Well, _maybe _I like him… but does he like me?_

She knew that the whole flower thing was simply childish. She also knew she couldn't deny that she was curious about what end result she'd reach, not to mention if Shaymin's theory was actually correct or not. As a few late legendaries continued to arrive, she pulled at the petals far more discretely than before. She looked around warily and swept the loosened petals under one of her feet as she counted.

_He likes me._

At least no one was noticing so far. They were all too engrossed in other conversations, and the meeting didn't start for another five minutes, so….

_He doesn't like me._

What was the use of this? It's not like whatever she pulled would influence his decisions.

_He likes me._

But maybe, just maybe, it would prove to be a very good omen if the petals said he liked her!

_He doesn't like me._

She didn't match his personality, though. It was doubtful that he found her his type.

_He likes me._

What is type, anyways? Just another excuse of those who couldn't, or didn't, find someone to care for.

_He doesn't like me._

Someone like herself, she supposed.

_He likes me._

But even if she wasn't her type, they could make it work. Right? Right?

_He doesn't like me._

But even if he did, legend forbids that they join in communion. The two were one of the same before, but now they were forever separated.

_He likes me._

That's just legend, though! And if anything, it was metaphorical. Doesn't mean a thing.

_He doesn't likes me._

Even, EVEN then, what would he think of her if he caught her toying around like this? He was serious all the time, living more the realist's life. And this was childishness at its maximum.

_He likes me_.

Reshiram looked up to see if he had arrived yet. She was surprised to find that he had, in fact, not been there five minutes prior. No matter, though; two more remained.

_He doesn- oh…._

Her claw lightly gripped one last, solitary petal. Her jaw loosened and her face fell at this result, even though she told herself so many times that it would no bearing at all on how he thought. Her dignity just felt… marred, if anything, to have her psyche so insulted by what ten-year old humans would normally play at recess. She looked down out of distraction, not wanting to make what would be an extremely awkward eye contact with any other legendary.

"Hello."

"Z-Zekrom!" his counterpart stammered, completely caught off guard. Her tail flared in shock as she scrambled to hide the flower from him, but a black arm caught her wing before she could do so. She looked up almost fearfully into his yellow pupils as he looked at – no, _scrutinized_ – her complexion.

The black dragon chuckled at either her flustered state or her awkwardness; she wasn't so certain of which. "Now, now, Reshi, why so hurried? And what are you holding there?"

"It's nothing. Nothing!" she protested as Zekrom gently but firmly turned her claw up to face him. The stem and its single petal were bared for the world to see.

"A flower with petals torn out of it. Why did you want to hide this from me?" he asked simply, as if it was the stupidest thing in the world. His gaze hardly wavered as Reshiram quailed under the force of the question.

She took this as an opportunity to grab it back from him. "Exactly! No big reason! The meeting's now! We have to go!"

Zekrom made no attempt to resist as she snatched the flower from him, instead just smiling. "That was a test, you know. You were playing _effeuiller la marguerites_, 'love me not,' weren't you?"

Her breath caught in her windpipe as he correctly guessed the occasion. She coughed out blackish smoke instead of a searing flame at the flower. "What? No! Of course not- I mean… how did you know?"

She shrunk under his stern, emotionless gaze, wincing as he pointed down below her. The white dragon followed his dark claw until she saw a large array of tiny pink petals decorating her feet. _Wait, wait! I thought I put them under my feet, unless…._ Unless she had forgotten to do it every time because she thought too hard! And now he knew….

"Well, Reshi?"

"Yeah, okay, you caught me," she said with a nervous laugh. "I was just waiting until the meeting started, because I come here early often. Now it's about to begin, and I don't think we should be late, so can we go now? Now?"

"So now, I'm judging from the last-"

"Zekrom! Can we talk about it later? Please?" she snapped, flustered. For Arceus' sake, she just wanted this conversation to _end_! Reshiram was certain that more than one pair of eyes stared at her back as she tried to get him to stop talking.

His face remained unperturbed as he asked, "That last petal probably means you got stuck on a 'doesn't like me' one, huh?"

Her next retort caught in her throat as she struggled to justify or simply lie about it. However, only a mere, "W-well, yeah…" escaped her as she found none to be expressed.

"You do realize that you should have picked one with an odd permutation, right?" he said, giving her a bemused glance. "If you pick a flower with an odd permutation, you'll always pull the choice that you initially want. But there's a trick around that. There always is. Just because you get a bad petal doesn't mean he doesn't like you…."

"Zekrom! Time!" she exclaimed, normally snowy face already flushed a deep red. "Can we talk about this later? Or not at all? Preferably not at all!"

"Almost, almost done," he said, oblivious to her protests. "Now, one of those human partners – her name was White, I believe – when we were together, she was playing this, and what she did was pretty clever." Though Reshiram knew it was stupid to feel such, a small pang of jealousy coursed through her at the mention of someone else being with him.

"See, look." Zekrom reached out and tugged the last petal from the flower between Reshiram's claws. She winced at the sound of the tear, feeling as if he had pulled the remains of her hopes along with it.

"If you get stuck on a bad petal, you can just split it in half!" The dragon tugged at the center of the petal, breaking it in two. "And then, we can just throw one away and pretend that was another petal you pulled."

"Then, the other one is your last one, right?" he asked a surprised Reshiram. "So here, this is for you." He handed her the other half, a small but entirely noticeable grin on his almost mechanical face. "So, look, he likes you! Isn't that something!"

As Zekrom smiled at her, Reshiram felt something in her chest melting. Maybe it was the way her black counterpart naively made her romantic quandries seem so simple, or how he remained completely ignorant of the fact that _he _was in fact the target of her flowers… or _did_ he know? Was he smarter than he let on, actually subtly telling her that he happened to actually like her?

"Hey, Reshiram," the wyvern heard dimly, "Why are you tearing up a bit? And red? Are you alright?"

It was as if she heard his voice through water as her mind reeled with the countless possibilities. So what was it? Did he actually like her, or was he just unaware of the way he said "He likes you!" Or did he know, and not want to be with her…? Or, maybe, _maybe_ he was just indecisive, waiting to see how things turned out! That took way too long, though… she wanted to know _now_, considering how it was him who had escalated this dilemma to ridiculously uncomfortable levels without knowing it!

She saw the crimson eyes and black wings dance before her in a shimmer as tears began to obscure her vision. The dragon's mouth moved up and down, as if was he was saying something; she just couldn't hear him, though, nor see the slight look of concern on his face.

"Reshi? Reshiram! Are you alright?"

Now Zekrom's voice seemed to be fading back in, swirling emotions slowly coalescing into a single objective. There was no way Reshiram could resist any longer; he _had _to know, he _needed_ to know! If he didn't, then… then….

On complete impulse, she surged forward, large wings snapped open to fully embrace the utterly shocked dragon. "Idiot!" she exclaimed, nearly choking on tears as Zekrom tried to raise his arms to push her off. "Don't you know that I… that game…."

"R-Reshi, what are you talking about?" he asked confusedly, feeling her head nestled fully on his torso. If she hadn't been stammering half-coherent sentences, she was certain that she would have squealed a little bit at feeling the vibration of his voice in his chest as well as the heart that suddenly seemed to beat twenty times as fast as before. "Don't you see that they're watching us…?"

"You don't get it? Gah!" She closed her eyes and rubbed her face closer into his upper body, feeling a pleasant warmth rushing to her face. It didn't occur to her that she was blushing madly as Reshiram whispered, "Zekrom, the one I like is… well, he's…."

She froze. "Wait, what?" the wyvern yelped as Zekrom's last sentence finally registered in her mind. Her eyes flew open as she rapidly detached herself from the object of her attraction. "I…."

Reshiram mouthed for words, but found herself stammering as she turned to see the entire council watching her. Their reactions were varied; some were absolutely shocked, like Shaymin. Mouth full agape and face starting to grow a reddish hue, she was only able to cover part of her features with a paw as she stared and stared. Rayquaza simply scoffed and looked away to a specific red dragon, which did not fail to catch the attention of a snickering Palkia and an incensed Latios. Arceus wore a small, knowing smile, while his counterpart Giratina snorted and rolled her eyes.

All in all, the fact that _everyone_ was watching her hardly failed to leave her mind.

"Zekrom, you… you… you _idiot!_" she nearly screamed as she half-ran, half-flew out the doors of the chambers, entire body burning from absolute embarrassment. When she thought about it, she basically confessed to him in front of everybody! How could she let her emotions run so rampant? As she flew as fast as she could out of the Hall, tears clouded her eyes as her heart began to pain in her chest. How could she have done that not only to him, but in front of everybody? Now everybody knew! How could she be so stupid, so careless, so… in love?

* * *

><p>"Wait, what?" a stunned Zekrom asked no one in particular. He stood plastered exactly where he had stepped back to take the brunt of Reshiram's hug. Unlike the other dragon, he didn't become truly conscious of many pairs of eyes watching him until he looked up at the council table. "Err… uh… hello?"<p>

He thanked Arceus that his skin was dark enough to hide the blood in his face as he sat down next to Kyurem at the table. That was embarrassing as hell, for one, being planted on the spot like that, and being the absolute center of attention didn't help either. But as the God began to request the minutes from the last meeting, he sat there silently contemplating what Reshiram had said. _Zekrom, the one I like is… well…._

Well, who? Who was it that she was talking about? And why did she hug him, and call him idiot? It didn't add up at all, and the fact that the rest of the council was staring at him oddly made his deductions no easier.

"Zekrom, any reports from your sector of the region? Keep in mind that you'll also have to do Reshiram's briefing today as well," he heard a baritone voice say. He looked up to see the qilin watching him, humored smile still present on his face.

"Yes, Arceus, sir." _I'll think about it later_, he told himself as he cleared his throat loudly.


	2. Chapter 2

No longer a one-shot.

* * *

><p>The wyvern lighted down on the Sky Pillar, forsaking the maze of the obelisk for the sake of time and convenience. As her wingbeats erased the footsteps worn in the dust before the lair's entrance, Reshiram had to wonder if the rumors of Rayquaza actually eating stray, unwitting trainers and their companions were actually true. She knew that the sky dragon would have no problem at least maiming and disfiguring any foolish competition to scare them away from his holy ground, despite how forcefully Arceus forbade such an act. Such was the stony, coldhearted character of Rayquaza, she thought with an expressive eye roll.<p>

_Much like Zekrom_, a voice in her mind quipped as her claws played over each other. Over several hours of mumbling to herself and several helpings of a delicious concoction humans called "ice cream", she concluded that her actions from the previous day had torn her aching heart even further apart than it had been before. Anger struck her for a moment; how could that big _lummox, _that insensitive _dumbass _do something so simple to turn one of the great Unovan legends from strong, noble peacekeeper to complete mush?

She quickly berated herself for the comparison, almost laughing at her attempt at considering Zekrom heartless. Dumb? Possibly. Oblivious? More than definitely. But she knew for a fact that he had a strong will and a stronger heart, interests placed in the right things for the right reasons. As the embodiment of Truth, such veracity spoke to her more than any words or actions could.

In stark contrast, she knew almost nothing about the dragon ho she came to visit this day. Only observation has shown an cold, unsympathetic individual so focused on maintaining his staid, composed figure that even a single chink in his armor shone like a beacon. From that it was easy to deduce that he held a portion of his heart, however small it may be, for just one other on the council - the blithe, fun-loving, adventurous Latias among all others. The sheer juxtaposition and the few memories of Rayquaza actually somewhat _losing_ his composure while talking to her brought a small, wry grin to her face. She came not intending to scorn him for the secluded life he pursued nor to tease him about his unusual attraction, but to discover how he dealt with such a feeling eating away at him from day to day.

The irony of asking the one she knew the least about for help with handling the one she knew the most about was not lost on her.

As she began to approach the entrance of the small lair atop the Sky Pillar, the more rational part of her mind began to plead with her - why wouldn't you ask someone you were actually _friends_ with, instead of this reclusive jerk who you _know_ couldn't care less about anything, let alone your feelings?

But this jerk quite possibly knows more about your plight than anyone else you could think of, she reminded herself sternly. And that was enough reason enough to even bother attempting to talk to him today.

She quietly ventured close enough to the entrance to see Rayquaza's coiled figure breathing softly, angular head nestled in the middle. His emerald armor told tales of battles long past, scratches and scars remnants of his extended service to Arceus and the Council and the sacrifices made for them. Clearly he had fought wars that she wouldn't have had the courage to face, let alone learn of.

As she stepped softly in the chamber, it seemed that his instincts has not yet left him. The green dragon's head flew up as his entire body unwound in an instant, fierce snarl painted over his muzzle as his armor pulsed bright yellow. "Who enters?" he asked, acerbity of the demand sending a healthy amount of fear though her for a moment. Moments before she can respond, however, he quickly cut her off as his eyes widened slightly in recognition. "Reshiram," he acknowledged brusquely, small claws retracting. "What are you doing here?"

If fear hadn't gotten the better of her, she was more than certain she would have smacked him silly for the flagrant disrespect just displayed. Instead, the wyvern looked straight up into to the triangular face staring straight down at her, somehow swallowing her fear for a moment to return a glare of equal intensity. "Hello, and good afternoon to you as well, Rayquaza," she said, trying to contain her anger. "Do you mind if I... enter?"

"Enter?" He waved his arm at the room, a stone box and nothing more. "Certainly." As she walked in, he said, "As you can tell, Reshiram, I am not quite used to visitors. This seems to be the first time in my life you have appeared to me here, so you must forgive me if I'm not the most accommodating host there is." His yellow eyes flashed at her for a moment, seeming to reveal some nebulous emotion behind his expression. "You may sit down somewhere... anywhere, even." A blink and a shrug completely erased the face she tried to scrutinize.

Reshiram chose somewhere preferably close to the door, taking particular care in making sure her tail wasn't dirtied by the dust and sand underfoot as she sat. She heard him coil up besides her, but not too close - however icy and cold the green dragon may have been, he was certainly not stupid enough to risk the ire of an already irritated dragon. "So, what brings you here?" he repeated, watching her out of the corner of his eyes. "Your assigned area isn't anywhere near here, so you must have came of your own volition. Maybe you have some moral quandary that only the venerable Rayquaza could solve."

"You spend too much time in the clouds," she said, a scowl covering her face and her surprise at how precisely he nailed her reasons. "And you would be the _last_ I would ask about morality, if you were wondering."

He seemed to let that slight go, instead smirking in a manner that Reshiram definitely didn't like. "Right, right," he said, "I would imagine that you would have asked Zekrom instead of me about that jargon. But that doesn't seem to be an option, does it? Especially after what happened yesterday."

She felt ice flow through her veins as shock, embarrassment, and a newfound desire to wring that little skinny neck of his fought a three-way battle within her. "Rayquaza..." she started warningly, wisps of smoke escaping her jaw as she conjured her most intimidating glare.

Clearly Rayquaza has seen much worse, for he simply stared down his snout at her with arrogant derision. "It's not as if I'm wrong," he said, annoyed expression ever-present. "After all, I find that your appearance here after that certain situation yesterday hardly coincidental. We'll set a scene: you leave the Hall of Origin confused and upset, and haven't a single soul to talk to besides yourself until now.

Reshiram only watched him carefully, slowly feeling more and more exposed each minute. Even though she had her expectations, she didn't expect this arrogant green lizard to actually figure almost word-for-word her very intentions, let alone bother talking at all.

"Who better to talk to than someone who you know doesn't fraternize with anyone? He'd certainly be a good candidate for harboring your painfully obvious secrets." He dropped his claws and snorted. "At least, that's what I imagine ran through your head as you flew all the way out to the middle of nowhere."

Her eyes widened as Rayquaza watched her steadily with those yellow pupils, and she found them startlingly similar to Zekrom's in how analytically they gazed at her. She was so stunned that she even let the insulting concept of "painfully obvious secrets" slide right by. "How did you deduce that so swiftly?" she asked, hopefully wondering if he had reached that conclusion by experience.

Another snort. "It's common sense. Emotions write themselves on faces, and you're as easy to read as a kindergarten book. And I hate to dash your hopes, but," he said, pushing off the ground with his tiny claws, "I'm not your personal diary, so you will have to find someone else to talk to."

As he uncoiled to take flight, she saw that same traitorous expression on Rayquaza's face from before. As she pondered what he had just said, she summoned the one thing she knew could make him stop in his tracks. "So, how's Latias doing?"

His horselike head snapped back for a moment to stare at her, mouth slightly agape. "How should I know how she is?" he asked sharply, slight hesitance showing before he plastered sheer annoyance on his face. "You're much better off asking Latios that."

A quick scan of his face yielded a treasure chest's worth of details in his demeanor. The way his eyes narrowed to slits, the slightly bared fangs, the rise of pitch, how his entire body seemed to stiffen slightly as the slight mention of her name.

In that one moment, Reshiram found the origins of how he had known her intentions so quickly. Under normal circumstances, she would have shamed herself over not detecting his fib so quickly.

"Liar."

It seemed that there was another thing that could halt him. He quickly descended and pushed his snout barely a foot away from her's. "I beg your unbelievable pardon?" he hissed, claws balled in overt, more than obvious anger. "You dare to intrude on my sacred ground, bring your problems to my doorstep, and then call me a _liar _when I refuse to entertain your - I must emphasize - _your _problems?"

Reshiram instantly shrunk away from the emerald dragon's fury as his angry tirade continued. "Pray tell, what am I lying about? You think that deep down inside, I want to sit here and be talked at for hours on end about your problems? Or am I lying about how I don't know of Latias' whereabouts and feelings? I am certain you realize I don't exactly live with her."

In the face of this green monstrosity, the wyvern slowly found her voice as her argument began to compose itself. "You protest too much," she said softly, a weak chuckle escaping her at Rayquaza's surprised expression. Apparently he wasn't used to being talked back at.

"How do I, as you put it, 'protest too much' when you violate my honor and my pride by calling me a liar?" he asked, eyes returning to slits.

"Because you lie to preserve your pride." Reshiram watched how the rays of light illuminated his face, saw the momentary bout of uncertainty that captured his expression, and knew that she was right.

"You lie about how you were able to know my problems so quickly," she said, heart pounding as she anticipated to either be fully accepted or fight the enraged dragon to the bloody death. "You said that all you did was read my face, but I find that hard to believe."

He scoffed, looking at her with much more anger than before. "Is it not believable that I know how others feel? You have knowing confused with understanding, even, especially in this case. I know you feel a certain way, but I couldn't relate to you even if I tried."

She acknowledged his scowl with a stoic expression. "I am more than certain that there's a little more than 'knowing' under that armor of yours, especially in this case. You say that I have painfully obvious secrets? Even Giratina, the densest of the dense when it comes to feelings, knows what you try to hide away so desperately! It's such a wonder that Latias is so damn blind and oblivious that she hasn't figured out yet!"

"Now look-" the dragon snarled back, incensed by the mention of the name.

"No, _you_ look," she said, causing Rayquaza's jaw to drop in shock - she guessed that this was the first time in his life he had been interrupted mid-sentence. Had she been in a calmer situation, she might have actually been proud of that feat. "I come here with the hope in my heart that you would at least be able to sympathize with me. You hold the same fears, the same trepidations as me, and we both know that. But you have the audacity to lie through your teeth to me, a being of Truth, and pretend that you're just some big damn hero who is incapable of an iota of emotion just to protect some imagined shred of pride!"

She looked up at him, outstretched wings dropping as she finally took a moment to catch her breath. Rayquaza had regained most of his face, albeit looking much more conflicted than before. "So I lied," he said slowly, teeth gritted as he spat each word out. "So I might know what you're feeling at this very moment because I've felt it for such a long time. Do you think it pleases me to look so incapable, so _weak_? Especially in front of one of the few I respect?"

Reshiram wasn't sure if she was to take that as a compliment, but what the dragon said next whisked those thoughts away. "But do you honestly expect me to reciprocate simply becausewe share the same woes?" he asked, expression slowly returning to its irritable self. "Don't forget that we haven't talked face to face until this very day - do you really expect me to release my demons here and now to an audience I know nothing about? Considering your past, I didn't expect you to be so foolhardy and naive about this, but I guess even I could afford to learn something new."

With this, he again lifted off the ground, long serpentine body silhouetted against the dying sunset. "I'm going for a fly," he said dryly. "See yourself out if you'd like."

* * *

><p>"So," the black dragon said, using his claws to motion, "Latios comes from the left with a Luster Purge, and tries to strike me from my flank. I spin, and he actually deflects off of my arm, shooting him off in a different direction. From there it wasn't hard clipping his wings with a Thunderbolt while he was confused."<p>

Latias, sitting on a half-broken pillar, smirked slightly "Is this true? I wish I was there to see it," she said with a hint of laughter in her voice.

"Yeah, okay," her brother said, scowling darkly at Zekrom. "So I improperly timed the move and I paid for it."

Zekrom looked out at the lake surrounding Dragonspiral Tower before swinging his head back at the source of indignation. "Right, right," he said with a short laugh. "Though I would have honestly stayed at range if I were you. Such a vantage would have been much better, considering I'm a hulking beast compared to you."

"I thought that you were going to do a range attack," Latios said, claw stroking his chin as he began to think analytically. "It's not as if I was wrong, considering what you did at the very end. I also wanted to go in for the kill, if that was possible."

Latias frowned slightly. "But he was strained to do that last Thunderbolt, wasn't he? If he had let you go, you probably could've tried to attack him again instead of just having the battle end there."

The interjection drew the surprised attention of both dragons. "What?" she asked with mock indignation. "Who's to say that he does all the protecting?" She put her claws on her hips mockingly and stood tall on her pillar. "Why can't I protect Alto Mare as well as my brother can?" The facade quickly fell to a fit of giggles as her composure lasted for mere seconds, eliciting a heavy sigh from Latios.

"Sometimes I swear I spar with her instead of you," Zekrom said with a shake of the head. "Though it seems that your skills are starting to slip. As a guardian of something much greater than what I will ever protect, I would have thought your combat tactics to be at least as good as mine - not rushing headlong into combat with the most powerful moves at the most inappropriate times. We must always remember that even though Arceus granted us powers, they're no good if we've no ability to use them properly."

The azure dragon nodded once in affirmation. "Understood - I'll be more conservative next time. Do you want another go, or..."

The mechanical dragon gave him an odd look. Latios' blue fur was clumped and singed from the electric attacks he had failed to escape; Zekrom's armor wore dings and scars from both the physical and special strikes the dragon had laid upon him in the past few hours. He swore he felt something oozing out of his left wing, but he willed himself to ignore it while the two eons were still with him. It wouldn't be polite to tend to his wounds in front of company.

"I guess not," Latios said a little stupidly. "It feels like that we've trained a bit harder than usual this time around, considering the condition we're both in." He neared the edge of the platform, taking no time at all to dive into the waters surrounding the tower.

As Zekrom watched the rings flow across the lake, Latias floated to his side. "So," she started, seemingly unable to find hold of a topic. "Are you doing anything later today?"

"Actually," he said, "I was hoping we could catch some dinner. I don't think either of you have had Unovan food in a while?"

"I would love to go," she said, head bobbing in agreement, "But Latios seems to have plans of his own later. Don't you?"

The sopping wet figure clambering back onto the tower shook himself dry. "Pardon?" he asked, though Zekrom could see his face change from curiosity to abject fear as he saw his sister's dark, malicious grin. "I, uh..."

"You know," she nudged ever so slightly. "The certain someone you're seeing later this evening? The one you've had eyes on for the longest while?"

Latios' face turned a color much more befitting of his sister. "La-ti-as!" he hissed, blood creeping up all the way up his snowy ears. "I thought you wouldn't say anything about this! To anyone!"

"Say what to who?" she asked with such divine innocence that Zekrom had to chuckle. "All I know is that you're going to see someone tonight, and that's it. What will happen to you two, or between you two, if that is the case, is something that's left up purely to the imagination. Whether that someone is a her, or a him, or..." Latias let out an illicit giggle as Latios' head practically exploded.

"It is a _her_, for the record," he snapped back, though the black dragon was more than certain that at the rate things were going, Latios could have boiled the entire lake with the heat of his embarrassment. "And you better quit that laughing, because this is just a casual dinner between two friends. Yeah, that's it. A casual dinner." Zekrom was sorely tempted to roll his eyes at such futile reassurance, noting that Latias also picked up on the waver in his voice. "Anyways, I'll be off now. No more gossiping, Latias, I swear," he sighed, lifting off from the tower into the dusk.

"So who is this someone Latios is so desperate to keep me unaware of?" Zekrom asked once the figure became all but invisible against the sky.

Latias shared a small laugh with him. "Oh, it's nobody special - just Lugia. It was inevitable, but apparently he likes to think much, _much,_ differently about it. Speaking of inevitable," she said, turning to face him more fully, "You've had your hands full for all of last night, right? Considering what happened with you and Reshiram at the council meeting yesterday, I mean."

Zekrom frowned slightly, raising a black claw. "I've been meaning to ask someone about that for the longest time. I'm not sure what to make of any of that, to be honest." As Latias floated to the top of a pillar to make eye contact with him, he continued, "Last night I tried talking to her and asking her about what she did, but the only intelligible things I got out of her were 'idiot' and 'you don't understand.' And I don't, which is what frustrates me. She just rushed at me when we were talking for no reason at all - how is anyone supposed to make anything of that?"

"Be specific," Latias said, though not without an air of amusement. "What were you talking about right before she hugged you?"

He stroked his chin and stared at the ground as he struggled to recall. "Perhaps... she looked disappointed because she was playing that human game, 'love me not.' She only had one petal left on the flower, and I split it in half so that whoever she was thinking about liked her, or something to that extent. Then she tackled me for some reason, and that was that." He looked up to see Latias stare at him with some amount of horror, and immediately felt something wilt within him.

"You are a _colossal_ idiot, Zekrom!" she almost shouted, causing him to flinch at the temper of the normally happy Latias. "You didn't talk to her about anything last night?" At the shake of his head, she failed to keep a groan from escaping her. "How is it not obvious to you that she likes you? Oh, that poor dragon, having to spend all of last night with an ignoramus like you! I can't believe how oblivious, how stupid you are!"

She would have continued to babble at lightning-fast speeds if Zekrom didn't hold his claws up. "Latias, slow down," he said calmly, though his insides began to churn slightly as he began to process her rambling infodump. _She likes me... how?_ "What are you talking about?" he instead asked, attempting to handle the situation as delicately as possible. "How are you able to extrapolate all of that from just one thing?"

"Alright," the red dragon said, preparing her claws for demonstration, "So when a girl likes a boy-"

"No, Latias, not like that!" He took a brief moment to put his face in his claws. "I mean to ask, what do you mean by like? I don't see any fundamental reason that I would be disliked - I carry my weight as a counterpart, I assist her on missions and her likewise, we draft and submit reports together. I do everything expected of me, so I would be at least tolerated at the very least. And maybe," he said, heartbeat ramping up ever so slightly, "Maybe she was delusional or upset about something yesterday, and needed someone to comfort her." He couldn't help but notice that he was starting to talk like Latios, the last few words starting to sound more and more like a giant lie.

She just sat there, mouth agape, the phrase_ you are _so_ dumb _silently conveyed through her revolted expression. "I wanted to clarify," he said defensively, deliberately leaving out _why_ he wanted to do so.

"Zekrom," she said gently, "When I say like I mean 'like like' despite what's in your head."

"Like like? A little redundant, don't you think?"

"Like like because there are Pokemon as thickskulled as _you_ that don't understand it at first sight! It's not like that she's been mooning over you for the past few months - or years, even! It's been so long that I've lost track of time!" She snorted exasperatedly, floating up right before him. "And for all this time I thought you were looking at someone else this entire time, because there's no way the great and mighty Zekrom can be so _dumb_!"

The revelation left his jaw open for a moment as his mind reeled from the much more indignant, transparent fact she had just fed him. With newfound unease, he pointed towards himself and mouthed _her and me_?

"Yes!" She was clearly reaching the limits of her infinite patience as she sighed heavily. "Zekrom, I have to ask this now before this conversation goes any further. Do you like her? Not as a partner or whatever stupid stuff you thought of before, but as an individual?"

Abruptly fronted with that question, he came to the quick realization that all of the talk before was meant to skirt that particular topic, not to tackle it head-on. "I... I think I have the right to not answer that question," he said slowly, feeling something in his chest drop. He again thanked Arceus for the black, mechanical skin at that moment because of the blood starting to rush to his cheeks, not unlike what had happened to him in the councilroom yesterday. The source of this feeling came not from an awkward sort of embarrassment, but rather...

Latias' stormy expression cracked into a mischievous one the moment he eked that statement out. "So you do like her!" she squealed, dancing around him and hugging his neck. "You'd be so cute together; I can just imagine it! Reshi and Zeki, sitting in a tree-"

"I don't think I ever said that," he protested weakly, fighting the red dragon off of him as what little remnants of his dignity crumbled to dust. "Look, Latias, when I say that, it means I don't know yet. I... like her as an individual, and I'm definitely on good terms with her, but in a romantic sense?" He tensed slightly as the happiness sloughed off of Latias' face, her sad almond eyes invoking some irrational feeling of guilt.

"I need some time to think about it," Zekrom said, frowning as he sat back on his tail. He didn't quite know how to feel at the moment - his moral aspects immediately chided him for keeping her so wound up over him. _So she feels that way about me_, he thought, as if to remind himself of that fact. How did he miss all the signs? Reshiram had tried so hard and so many times to telegraph that sentiment, even up to tackling him in public to let him know, and he hadn't known at all? Maybe Latias was right in calling him an idiot.

But whose fault was it that she liked him? Whose fault would it be if he didn't accept her? Would denying her unintentionally make him the bad guy? _I didn't _choose_ to be liked_, he thought worriedly.

He grunted as a red-furred dragon bopped his nose. "You'll figure it out one day," she said reassuringly, giving him a small, heartwarming smile. "Just be sure to be honest when you finally come to. Tell all the truth."

Zekrom couldn't help but snort slightly. "That poem is about telling half-truths, you know."

"Oh, I'm aware," she said a little loftily. "But you'll understand what I mean when it happens. Everybody does."

The only conclusion that he drew after was that he desperately needed a new topic - something, _anything_ to get his mind off of white feathers, strong blue eyes, a soft and soothing voice...

Perhaps Arceus was with him that day, for he was able to distract himself long enough from that to think of something else. For all that Latias had assessed how Reshiram doted over him, Zekrom couldn't help but wonder if she was aware of a certain green dragon's overt affection for her. "Actually, I've been meaning to ask," he started, interrupting the silence between the two of them, "If you don't mind me prying, do _you_ happen to like anyone?"

"Yeah!" she responded all too suddenly, her voice going an octave above what he believed possible. "But why bother talking about it? It's not like he's interested in me or anyone, that bellyaching jerk! That green snake can go stick his head out in space and suffocate to death for all I care!" The red dragon crossed her arms and huffed, eliciting a small grin from Zekrom.

"You don't happen to be talking about Rayquaza, do you?" he asked, smirking as the irony of the situation began defined itself. All of the thoughts about Reshiram fell to the back of his mind as he realized that Latias was just as blind and woeful as she accused him of being.

Oh, the revenge he'd exact on her for that ridiculous tirade...

She turned her head away from him and stuck her nose up, completely unaware of the gears turning inside Zekrom's head. "Of course I'm talking about Rayquaza! Have you ever _met_ a more insensitive legendary? And it's not enough that he's made that way, but he _tries_ to get others to hate him! How do you even begin to approach someone like that? But," she said a little more softly, "He sort of slips up whenever I talk to him, so I know there's something under that. But it sucks! I won't be able to talk back to him because he'll be too busy ignoring whatever I say, or let him know how I feel, or - ugh!"

Only after that small outburst did she realize who she was talking at, and she recoiled slightly as the mechanical dragon gave her a wide grin. A trickle of fear ran down her spine, and she suddenly got a much more familiar idea of what her brother felt earlier.

"We have a lot to talk about over dinner, don't we?"

* * *

><p>A fierce gust of wind roused Reshiram from her stupor. The argument and the realization that all of her hopes had been burned down to cinders left her mentally and physically tired, and she decided against her better judgment to rest for a few hours at the Sky Pillar before making the long trek back to Unova.<p>

Now she really wished she followed said judgment's suggestions as a dark, horselike head poked into the chamber, shadowed by not a setting sun but a full moon. It seemed to nod perfunctorily at her before retreating, as if beckoning her to follow.

Even in the darkness she noticed that her plumage gained a new dirtiness to it. She scowled at the undoubtedly dusty ground and briefly entertained taking a dive into the sea below to cleanse herself before realizing that water and fire do not mix all that well. She walked out, preparing to snap her wings and make a hasty retreat from the being who would undoubtedly question why she still intruded on his tower.

Instead, she found him sitting, staring out at moon far above them. Had she felt more adventurous at the time, Reshiram would have quipped how much of a hopeless romantic he was, or offered to take pictures so the rest of the Council could see how he was such a kindhearted legendary. Instead, she chose to simply watch, intrigued as to how such a stormy being could possess such a pensive expression.

The moment couldn't last forever. The second Rayquaza realized that someone was watching him, his head swung to meet hers. The snarl on his face slowly faded to something calmer, something definitely not of his character. "Eat," he commanded, motioning to a pile of berries placed between the two of them.

Reshiram eyed him suspiciously at first; it wouldn't be too far fetched of a concept to imagine him doing strange things to the food he proffered. Apparently he was just as aware of her thoughts, for he let out a sigh, speared a berry on his claw, and dropped it in his mouth. As mild crunching permeated the air, the wyvern almost let her jaw drop - since when did Rayquaza _sigh_? Since when did he bother to get food or anything for anyone? Since when did he watch the moon? She was tempted to blurt, "Who are you, and what did you do to the real Rayquaza?" but politeness got the better of her, and she simply kept her mouth shut.

Rayquaza gave her an insistent look, almost demanding that she join him in the dinner. At first, his cruel words replayed strong in her mind, telling her to just leave him alone, but her civility and the fact that her stomach began to growl audibly convinced her to stay.

With no real choice, she crossed the short gap between them and picked up a berry between her claws. Her eyes widened for a moment as she figured it to be a Tamato berry, spiky exterior poking at her feathers. She shot Rayquaza an ever more suspicious look before taking a small bite out of it.

As the spicy juices from the berry flowed in her mouth, she couldn't help but hum slightly from just how delicious it was. Zekrom had brought them back once from a mission in Hoenn, and she had decided to plant several Tamato seeds in front of Dragonspiral Tower right after that. Needless to say, it was unquestionably her favorite berry, and how Rayquaza of all legendaries had managed to guess that was beyond her.

A short chuckle immediately drew her eyes to the green dragon's figure. "You're so polite," he said, a small twinkle of amusement in his amber eyes. "Other Pokemon who hadn't eaten for an entire day would stuff their faces in without question."

A part of her wanted to engage Rayquaza in small talk, since it seemed to be the first time in her life she actually heard him attempt to start conversation. However, the memory of him brutally turning his shoulder on her came and instantly flattened that desire, and she again regarded him with an air of suspiciousness and anger. "Why is it that you got these for me?" she asked with surprising coldness.

If he was offended by her sharp question, he concealed it quite well. "I...," he started, struggling for words. "I went on a fly because I needed to think about all the things that you told me," he said with a softness that left Reshiram staring incredulously. _That and stuttering, two more things on the list of things Rayquaza _never_ does_. "I lashed out at you back then because I was..."

Reshiram felt odd, now that he came to her with problems, not the other way around. Her uncomfortableness apparently didn't infect Rayquaza, for he only continued to talk. "I was afraid," he admitted, wearing a defeated expression. "For someone like me, looking in a mirror is the hardest thing to do. It doesn't necessarily help when the mirror starts shoving back at you, taking the ideals preserved for so long and contorting them into the beasts you locked away."

Not for the first time today, she couldn't find anything to say back. Reshiram was rendered speechless by how quickly Rayquaza's demeanor changed, and shocked at how he was able to express, Arceus forbid, _actual_ emotions. All she could do was swallow the last vestiges of her berry as the dragon before her cobbled together what came as close to an apology as she thought possible.

"I thought attempting to leave would have been good enough to shoo you away, but I didn't anticipate your resolve. And then you challenged my honor - which I still resent, if you must know," he said with a sharp glare. "But your points were fair and valid, and I retreated further because I had no legitimate response - because there was no legitimate response."

He paused, as if suddenly realizing he was baring his heart out for her to see. "You really should eat some more," he said, nudging the pile of berries.

As she silently took another between her claws, he turned back to face the ocean. "I was a coward," he muttered, barely loud enough for Reshiram to hear. "I _am_ a coward in that I can't even begin to defend my beliefs the moment they're challenged." He let out a short bark of laughter, causing her to wince at how painful it sounded. "I'm so afraid of breaking who I am that I am loathe to even approach the object of my attraction."

"I assume you came here for a shoulder to lay your head on, for someone to tell you how they cope with the struggles and pains of trying to say what should be left unsaid. I'm afraid I can't afford you that service, Reshiram," the dragon said as he appraised her, causing her to notice newfound respect in his gaze.

His voice seemed to give out there, last few words whisked away with the sea breeze. She noticed Rayquaza fidget a little, and though she understood how uncomfortable his soliloquy must have been, Reshiram couldn't help but find him a little endearing. "You go to such lengths to avoid saying that you brought these berries here because you're sorry," she said, knowing smile somehow working its way on her face.

"The hell I am!" he said so swiftly that it couldn't have been anything but another lie. The bite of his response redeemed itself in the way his jawline softened and how his scowl faltered ever so slightly, but the wyvern let him keep his honor for the time being.

Silence fell between them, the sounds of the waves crashing against the Pillar the only thing in the night air. Rayquaza returned to looking out at the sky above, moonlight glinting off of his armor. Only then did she start to understand Rayquaza's suppositions, and almost wanted to kick herself for thinking of him as such a simplistic, one-minded moron who said and cared for nothing.

_Leave no stone unturned in the search for ideals_, Zekrom had told her a long time ago. Suddenly, she felt like she understood his words far more than before, and it floored her that Rayquaza was the one who helped her to her conclusion. _Maybe Zekrom cares for you more than he lets on, _she thought, the words feeling much fuller than they did before.

"Rayquaza?" she asked suddenly, confidence quickly returning to her voice as the thought stuck in her head. "Why do you stare at the moon?"

He turned to her, mouth seemingly opened for a response; nothing came out, however, as he snapped his jaw shut. She sensed a new emotion washing between them, and quickly identified it as... embarrassment?

Rayquaza looked all around him, as if searching for some invisible spy or intruder. He snaked his head down to Reshiram's, closer than he had ever come before. "You tell _anyone_ this," he hissed menacingly, "And I promise to eviscerate you as slowly as possible."

She almost snorted at the empty threat, instead nodding as she let his pride remain intact for the second time today. "I promise," she said. Inside, though, she knew she could probably blackmail him for the remainder of his existence for what he would say next.

"So Latias had me watch this human device known as 'television', where humans spend segments of time pretending to be different humans between other segments of time where humans pretended to like certain things," he began, claws in the air to emphasize the quotes. "And the show we watched concerned a pair of humans who lose a Pikachu they trained to respond to certain songs they sang."

"Sounds like a normal day for you," Reshiram said as she tried to stifle her laughter.

"Shut it! I know it sounds ridiculous, as human inventions usually are," he growled as she nearly lost her composure, "But when they lost their mouse, their friendship gets torn apart. Then, one of them starts singing the song in an attempt to regain both the mouse and their friendship. And as annoyed as I am about it, I cannot shake the song they both sang from my mind, and..." He coughed slightly as he faced the moon.

"Somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight," he sang softly, "Someone's thinking of me, and loving me tonight..."

He looked at her lamely, embarrassment quite visible as hints of red flashed across his features. "... and that's how it began, from my recollection. And every night since then I can't help but wonder if she does the same as me."

A lot of things crossed Reshiram's mind that instant. A devious part of her considered telling the troublemakers Raikou and Palkia about this moment and entirely shattering Rayquaza's prized veneer for the rest of eternity. Another pushed her to deny common decency and tease him about how mushy and cute he had become, but dignity saved him from that shaming. Her heart then fluttered as another part of her wondered if Zekrom ever thought of her in such a fashion. She got the biggest enjoyment, though, at imagining how Latias would react if she ever found out about this. From the many times she had talked with her, the red eon dragon made no small secret of who it was that she was attracted to. _Such maudlin thoughts for someone who practically has his girl_, she thought, and a momentary bout of shock rolled through her as she found that the same could apply to her.

She sat silently in thought, but after a long debate, in the end it felt right to say one thing, and one thing only.

"You should tell her how you feel," she finally said with a genuine smile, and as Rayquaza gave her a hopeful expression, she realized that saying that was more than enough to steady the doubts she had brought to the Sky Pillar that day.


End file.
